“In postwar Japan, a new terror rises; Godzilla. Will the devastated people be able to survive… let alone fight back?”

Written and Directed by: Takashi Yamazaki, Godzilla Minus One looks set to deliver a riveting, painful retelling of Godzilla’s origins, placing the behemoth directly at the heart of the Nuclear Holocaust.

It will be, in a word, painful. But Yamazaki’s vision also looks to be deeply kinetic. Emotion and action are showcased equally in the film’s first full trailer.

Like Shin Godzilla before it, Minus One will be a truly Japanese experience; one that will resonate far deeper with Japan than any other populous. Unlike Shin, however, Toho’s latest Godzilla film delves straight into the history that birthed him – and changed Japan forever – making Minus One a far more daring and devastating tale.

One of the final scenes of the trailer looks to depict the birth of Godzilla himself as the titanic creature rises from ash, his hide charred and glowing with the embers of the Nuclear Holocaust.

As the final line declares: “That monster… Will never forgive us.”

In postwar Japan, a new terror rises; Godzilla. Will the devastated people be able to survive… let alone fight back?

Written and Directed by: Takashi Yamazaki In theatres nationwide December 1, 2023. ©2023 TOHO CO., LTD.

GODZILLA MINUS ONE

Toho has arranged for Minus One to mark Godzilla’s return to the prestigious Tokyo International Film Festival, which runs October 23 through November 1. 

With Minus One closing the celebration, those in attendance will catch the film two days before it’s Japanese premiere (Nov. 3, 2023) on Nov. 1.

U.S. audiences will experience the film on December 1 – in the same year that Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer hit theaters, no less. And for those of us so deeply familiar with our Western role in the fictional birth of Godzilla, Minus One will provide an entirely different experience and resonation.

Jon D. B.